Team becomes second Americans to lead rankings

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(10/27/2009) - Colorado Springs, Colo. -- American ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White assumed the top spot in the icenetwork.com World Figure Skater Rankings following their win at last week's Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, Russia. Davis and White become the first U.S. skaters in any discipline to climb to No. 1 since the rankings were started in 2007.

Ladies
Japan's Miki Ando captured her second gold medal in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series -- her first since 2006 Skate America -- in Moscow, elevating her to No. 5. Rostelecom Cup silver medalist Ashley Wagner of the United States moved up five places to No. 13, while Alena Leonova, who won the bronze last week, jumped four notches to No. 9. Moving up three spots to No. 8 was Alissa Czisny, who placed fourth at the Rostelecom Cup.

MenEvgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic champion from Russia, made his long-awaited return to competition last week, and he did not disappoint, besting the field in Moscow by 25 points. That win put him at No. 20 in this week's rankings. Japan's Takahiko Kozuka vaulted four slots to No. 3 with his silver medal at the Rostelecom Cup. Winning his first career Grand Prix medal in Moscow -- a bronze -- was Russian Artem Borodulin, who entered the rankings at No. 19. Another big mover was Belgium's Kevin van der Perren, whose fifth-place finish last week led to his climbing from No. 16 to No. 12.

Ice Dancing
Davis and White continued an impressive streak during which they've won four of their last five competitions, a run of success that includes gold medals at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and 2009 AT&T U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Italy's Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, silver medalists at the Rostelecom Cup, improved two places to No. 13, while Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer of Russia soared five spots to No. 13 on the strength of their bronze in Moscow, their first career Grand Prix medal.